This comes as no surprise.
Whoever mentioning corporate interests and all that bullshit, it is much simpler than that. The so called "green rush" represents a large chunk of change that the federal government is not getting a piece of. That is why they want to shut it down. The federal government doesn't care one iota if people are smoking weed in California, only that the people who are making money off of it are not giving that money to the IRS.
The real tragedy here is that despite all the naysayers, at its best the system works great. Having held a recommendation (for a broken jaw) in California I can tell you that a large portion of the buyers I encountered were older folk who just needed a legitimate source to buy some ganja. Somebody mentioned that the shops sell their "2nd rate merchandise" which is absolute horse shit. Like any competitive enterprise the clubs have to compete for business. Often time their MJ is among the best, albeit pricy.
Like any market, killing the supply is not going to kill the demand. The demand will still be there, and will be increasingly filled by illegitimate sources, namely Mexicans who are associated at varying levels with the cartels. Illegal marijuana production represents a boom business for many illegal immigrants here in the United States.
The big mistake was not letting California marijuana dispensaries fall under a government monopoly,
on a level similar to say the OLCC (Oregon liquor control board) in Oregon. If the state runs a monopoly on it they can monitor and control
the factors of production, collect all the profits (which all go to the
government), make sure their sources are legit (background checks,
etc), and control the price. It would be much harder for the federal government to raid shops
run by the state of California, seeing as how all the revenue would go directly to the state.
The talk about how the medical marijuana system is abused applies on the same level to our current system for prescription drugs. Any moron kid who claims he can't concentrate is given speed (adderall), and any patient who comes in complaining of "severe back pain" is given oxycodone.